WDIA: WWLL Tourney Preview; Lindenwood Recap

by David Ely | Special to Lacrosse Magazine
Online

The WDIA National Championship still a couple of weeks away, but
this weekend’s Western Women’s Lacrosse League (WWLL)
tournament in Los Angeles should serve as an excellent appetizer
for the main event May 5-8 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Heck, the WWLL’s eight-team tournament could prove to be
every bit as exciting and competitive as the one that will
determine the national champion.

The talent certainly is there for a memorable weekend of lacrosse.
Five teams ranked in the top eight of April 14’s USL WDIA
Poll make up the top five seeds.

The nation’s No. 1-ranked team, Santa Clara, is the
tournament’s top seed. No. 4 Cal Poly is the two seed, No. 5
UC Santa Barbara is the three seed, No. 3 UC Davis is the four
seed, and No. 8 UCLA is seeded fifth.

That lineup would be a murderer’s row in a national
tournament, but to have that many upper-echelon teams condensed
into one league is largely unprecedented.

“Never in my experience,” said UCSB coach Paul Ramsey
when asked if he can recall participating in such a loaded league
tournament.

“I was here before, and it was never this tight before with
five teams. It seems like anybody could beat anybody, and
that’s 1-5.”

While one can be safe in assuming that at least four of those
teams will make Nationals, the 4-5 game should play a large role in
determining if all five teams will book a ticket to Arizona.

A win over the Aggies would give UCLA’s resume another
marquee win to go along with its victory over Cal Poly, but it
shouldn’t bump UC Davis out of Nationals.

After all, the Aggies (10-2) are the only squad to beat Santa
Clara this season.

“I do feel that our body of work should warrant a bid to
Nationals, but you never really know how the polls are going to go
and how people will vote for our team,” UC Davis coach Erica
Jue said. “But considering that Santa Clara has been dominant
across the nation … I think [our win over them] shows we can
beat anyone in the nation.”

The first-round matchups should set up a series of top-5 contests
in the semifinal and championship rounds. We could get a Santa
Clara-UC Davis rematch paired with another between Cal Poly and UC
Santa Barbara.

It’s not that hard to imagine seeing those matchups
repeating themselves at Nationals, either.

Santa Clara and Virginia Tech Club Dominate Lindenwood
Invitational

Last weekend, some of the best teams in the WDIA traveled to St.
Charles, Mo., for the Lindenwood Invitational.

There were plenty of top-10 matchups, as the likes of Santa Clara,
Lindenwood, Virginia Tech Club and BYU headlined the field of seven
teams, but the Broncos and Hokies stole the show.

Both teams staked their claim as teams to beat in next
month’s WDIA Nationals with 4-0 weekend records.

No. 1 Santa Clara scored the biggest win of the weekend with its
11-5 victory over No. 2 Lindenwood. The Broncos also beat Michigan,
Central Florida and Minnesota by a combined score of 40-10.

Virginia Tech’s marquee win was its 12-11 topping of BYU,
while the Hokies repeated Santa Clara’s feat of victories
over Michigan, Central Florida and Minnesota.

WDIA News & Notes

Lindenwood ended the regular season with a 16-2
record, the Lions' best mark in school history. Lindenwood will
look to claim its second consecutive WCLL Tournament championship
this weekend in Toledo, Ohio… Colorado
continued its season turnaround last Saturday with a win over rival
Colorado State. The Buffaloes are now 9-5 on the year and finish
their season April 26 against BYU.